What is an Empath’s Purpose in Life?

One of the most frequently asked questions by those on the path of awakening is: What is my purpose as an Empath?

I know only too well how frustrating it is to have this question burning unanswered within. It is also frustrating to have this incredible gift and not know what it is for or what to do with it.

Many Empaths feel they should be helping others. But because they get overwhelmed, by spending too much time around people, they don’t know how that would be possible.

It is an inbred trait for Empaths to want to be of service. And, it is often the case that the more an Empath has suffered the more they want to save others from enduring the same pain. They may look for certain vocations that will help make this possible.

But on my journey, I have come to understand that not all suffering is bad. It is often through suffering that humans evolve, awaken and start looking for a new and better path. Suffering can also be an important rite of passage into spiritual consciousness.

Everyone needs direction and purpose, no matter how evolved they are or how much they have suffered. And it is up to each to seek out that direction individually.

Even as Empaths, we are each unique, and what is right for one Empath is not right for another.

In order to serve their life purpose, many Empaths believe they should be working with others. But because of the getting ‘peopled’ factor, it isn’t always an option.

The truth is, Empaths don’t have to work ‘directly’ with the public to be of service. There are many jobs behind the scenes that don’t involve much ‘people interaction’ that are still being of a huge service.

And besides, Empaths already do more for others than they probably know. For one thing they are great listeners.

People rarely listen. Most are too busy thinking about their own story, or what they want to say next. Empaths do listen and they hear on many different levels. They also care. Simply listening to another is healing for the one being heard.

There are many other ways Empaths help without realising. So do not worry too much if you feel you are not helping others enough. Believe me, you are!

If you work on making yourself a better person you are making the world a better place, and that in itself is a priceless gift.

So getting back to finding your purpose, one of the first steps is to listen to you heart and follow your gut instincts and intuition. But before you can trust your intuitive signals you have to know that you are in balance. The reason I say this is because, when you are out of balance, as an Empath, you will likely suffer with fatigue, overwhelm, stress, anxiety, depression and or low moods, after spending time around people, and your intuitive responses will be heavily muffled or distorted.

Staying in balance, feeling you have reason and purpose, and continually pushing forward (whilst stepping from your comfort zone) will keep you on track as an Empath.

You are meant to enjoy your time here, and feel like you have accomplished something when it is your time to leave. Although you will have many ups and down, you are not meant to continually suffer (with low moods, depression or job dissatisfaction).

Continuous suffering is a call from your soul to make you aware something is not right and changes need to be made.

You were born for a reason. It is a basic human right to have purpose and meaning. And you have the power to make the changes to see this happen.

Hope this helps you on your Empath journey.

Click here to read excerpts from books written for an Empath by an Empath.

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15 thoughts on “What is an Empath’s Purpose in Life?”

I am a male empath. I am gay, but find myself disliking most men because of the “masculine” expectations, and hardened exterior this world makes lots of people put on. I find people who have a strong, overpowering, dominant personality quite irritating, because to me, i can’t quite put my finger on it, but its like they represent the insecurity of the world if that makes sense. I Feel like i am at the mercy of everyone else emotions. i loved the part in the article about transmuting negative energy to positive. Sometimes that feels really hard to do, and so overwhelming that i really can’t take it. I wonder what the point of being here really is sometimes. That might be over dramatic lol, but I really feel overwhelmed, brain foggy at times, and just like a raw nerve ending, and nobody listens, i don’t feel like i would be understood by anybody, not many people i can tell that I am an empath and have a real conversation about that. I love the ability though, but it makes my head spin, and i guess i have frustrations about the rat race that is our society too. There is my rant lol. Great article, love it!

Very interesting article. I’m 43 this year and still haven’t followed my true calling. I am sensitive, caring and find very strong personalities unbearable.

Truth be told I like to chat to people a lot to see what makes them tick, but in general I dislike most people.

This might be a confusion though as I might not dislike but rather be unable to tolerate others due to this perception of receiving their energy. It’s confusing.

I’m more interested in the female perspective and I don’t know why. I think I find women more interesting, less threatening and obviously more sensitive.

I’m not sure if I’m an empath as I’m not good at self analysis but my Reiki therapist seemed to think I am one. I tend to shy away from the crowd most occasions, however if I take alcohol I can become a real live wire and mix in to the crowd. That speaks much more about the chaos in my mind and strong personality addictions.

I do absolutely know that I have an inner voice that wants me to find a way to help others Directly. I’m working towards selling my business within the next 2 years, and I would like to have found my path to embrace my inner voice and help others around me in society. Perhaps that is my true calling.

One of the issues I have found in being a male empath is as you stated “self analysis”. The primary reason is that we males are often trained not to feel and not to self analyze. The first step is usually to just let that thought go and say “I feel” and let yourself. You should start to then begin to explore these “locked” feeling within yourself and you will find out more and more about the way you work. You will find out much about yourself that as a “male” you have been forced to lock down.
One interesting thing that I found when doing this was that I have a non-sexual attraction to Harley Quinn. Mainly because she to me represents suppression that have been released into free expression. Rather chaotic, but still free. Her back story in the Batman universe if you don’t know is that she was a psychologist at Arkham Asylum until Joker turned her.

And as for the female perspective, a male empath is attracted in that general direction because the energy is less restrictive and easier to work with. This goes back to being raised as males not to feel. Male energy is usually stout, firm, non-responsive to other energy. Female energy is like a spring time field. Warm, flowing, full of life. Unless you encounter a female that is in pain. Then you feel something similar to a male.

Hello Diane my name is Victor and I relate to about 95% of everything this post says and I can feel that you are very knowledgeable and I have a few questions if you don’t mind? My facebook is Victor Cardoso friend request me i would greatly appreciate it 🙂

As a man, it’s nearly abnormal to be an empath. I do not know of another man who is one. Not knowing exactly how many indicators one must have, I believe I have most if not all the indicators. Anyway, I’m in a helping profession that helps others on multiple levels both near and far. Although I feel comfortable with some success when others provide me with words of affirmation, it’s difficult to measure success internally for myself. As I consider being true to myself and following my passion and interests, the rest will follow doesn’t make sense to me. What does that mean? What is the rest that follows for a man because it seems that there are more female empaths than male. Furthermore, this article suggests that the success of happiness is doing what you love and loving what you do. I love what I do but I can’t say for certain I’m very happy doing it. It’s actually exhausting to be an empath. However, I’m good at it nonetheless. All in all, I’m not sure I like this gift because it only seems beneficial to others.

What I mean when I state ‘if you engage in your interests and passions the rest will follow’ is: when we are following our truth, our interests and passions, and not those of others, our true life path will unfold and we will continue to attract to us that which we are meant to experience. However, it is not an overnight process. We have much to learn and we still have to make many changes to stay in balance. We may love what we do but still feel drained by doing it. This is why I offer on my blog, many different ways in which to avoid getting burnt out, stay balanced and grounded when out in the world. It is up to each of us to find what works for us and then practice it daily.

Being an Empath is not an easy path to walk, and although you find it difficult, you are helping others and this shows that you rock at being one!

As another male empath I can honestly tell you that there are an equal number of male and female empaths. Most males don’t recognize what they are/have.
The main issue in differences is that men are not nearly as in touch with their emotions as our counterparts are. Since there isn’t much instruction or help many male empaths don’t understand what is going on. They may become angry and hostile because they can’t “fix” what they are feeling or fix what others are feeling. They can be driven to drugs/alcohol to try and mute the emotions. Of course, as a known trait, they distance themselves from others. They are sadly masked by a society that doesn’t openly teach that these types of giftings exist. Especially in a society that is still masculine in attitude and discipline. We males aren’t supposed to be “emotional”. We are supposed to be logical, methodical, reliable, and dependable. And it is difficult to be those when you are flooded with everyone’s emotions.
Especially those emotions from other muted males who don’t recognize/acknowledge/understand their own emotions.

I openly will say, until I came to that moment of realization of what was happening that it has caused an overwhelming amount of anxiety and stress in my life. It has lead me into bad relationships, make wrong decisions against my own better judgement and over all put me in a place I didn’t know how I got there.

After realization, after sorting out the laundry and when I started to recognize what was mine and what was others and how to counter the emotions did peace follow.

I am grateful for who I am now. After taming the beast within, I have begun to utilize it for making situations better and successful in business.

This is exactly how I am feeling right now. Becoming more and more dissatisfied with my current job, even though it is a good one that does allow me some freedom to express myself creatively; but I want so much to find a way to help others. As I get older I feel as though I have actually always felt this way, but only now that I’m beginning to accept myself these feelings are really pushing their way to the surface. I want my life to have meaning and I want that meaning to make a real difference to the lives of others, even if it is only small. I guess it’s just nice to know that I am not the only one who feels this way 🙂